Charles Porterfield Krauth | |
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| Born | (1823-03-17)17 March 1823 |
| Died | 2 January 1883(1883-01-02) (aged 59) |
| Education | Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (1841) |
| Children | Harriet Reynolds Krauth Spaeth |
| Parent | Charles Philip Krauth |
| Relatives | Sigmund Spaeth (grandson) |
| Religion | Lutheranism |
| Writings | The Conservative Reformation and its Theology |
Offices held | Editor ofThe Lutheran Professor atLutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia |
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Charles Porterfield Krauth (March 17, 1823 – January 2, 1883) was a pastor, theologian and educator in theLutheran branch ofChristianity. He is a leading figure in the revival of the Lutheran Confessions connected toNeo-Lutheranism in the United States.
Born inMartinsburg, Virginia to ministerCharles Philip Krauth. Young Krauth graduated fromGettysburg College (then called Pennsylvania College) in 1839 (while his father served as that school's president), and two years later from theLutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg. From 1841-1852, the younger Rev. Krauth served congregations inBaltimore, Maryland, Martinsburg, andWinchester, Virginia.[1] During the winter of 1853-54, for three months he served the Dutch Reformed congregation inSaint Thomas in the Virgin Islands, where he was visiting on account of his wife's illness. Krauth later published a sketch of this visit entitledA Winter and Spring in the Danish West Indies. Upon returning, Krauth was called to congregations inPittsburgh from 1855 to 1859, andPhiladelphia from 1859 to 1861.
In 1864, he was elected as a member to theAmerican Philosophical Society.[2]
In 1861, Krauth resigned from parish ministry to serve full-time as editor ofThe Lutheran, a theological journal. One ofThe Lutheran’s goals was to restore the confessions of faith found in theBook of Concord to prominence in Lutheran church life.
These documents, especially theAugsburg Confession, have always been identified as the cornerstones of a distinctively Lutheran theological identity. But during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Lutherans in the United States had interpreted the confessions very loosely. A key figure in this movement wasSamuel Simon Schmucker, one of Krauth’s professors at Gettysburg, whose “American Lutheranism” as outlined in the Definite Synodical platform of 1855, proposed that the Augsburg Confession was mistaken on such questions as Baptismal Regeneration and theReal Presence in the Eucharist.
In contrast, Krauth and his collaborators (who eventually included his own father andBeale Melanchthon Schmucker, the son of Samuel Simon) preferred a more literal reading of the Lutheran Confessions. They saw Martin Luther’s theology not as a radical rejection of traditional patristic and medieval theology, but as an essentially conservative return to first principles. In both theology and worship, they sought to create Lutheranism in which the medieval heritage was more readily apparent than the Enlightenment adaptations. For example, one of Krauth’s major books, “The Conservative Reformation and its Theology,” is an extended defense of the Real Presence.
Krauth was personally influenced by his reading of the Mercersburg theologians,John Williamson Nevin andPhilip Schaff, who had attempted a similar repristination of Calvinist theology within the American branch of the German Reformed Church. Nevin and Schaff had called themselves “evangelical catholics,” a term which has come to be used rarely, if at all, among the Reformed churches, but quite commonly among Lutherans. (Church, 226-229).
Similar revival movements likeNeo-Lutheranism took place in the early nineteenth century among Roman Catholics and Anglicans, as for example inGuéranger’s re-founding of the abbey atSolesmes, and in theOxford Movement.[3] European Lutheranism had a similar revival, led by theologians and pastors such asWilhelm Loehe.
Conflict between the “American Lutherans” and the leaders of the confessional revival led to a schism. In 1864, Krauth was asked to lead the new seminary in Philadelphia, which was founded by churches of thePennsylvania Ministerium to rival the seminary in Gettysburg (now known as theLutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, LTSP). In 1867, Krauth and his schoolmate Rev.William Passavant founded theGeneral Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The General Council had seven regional bodies which had withdrawn from theGeneral Synod.
During Krauth's lifetime, the LTSP was atFranklin Square.[4] In 1889 it moved toMount Airy.[4] In 1908 its new library there was dedicated as theKrauth Memorial Library in memory of Krauth.[4]
As the first professor ofsystematic theology at the new seminary, Krauth was at the intellectual center of the reform movement. He wrote its Fundamental Articles of Faith and Church Polity, as well as the constitutions for its congregations. His liturgical scholarship guided the formation of General Council worship materials. From 1868, Krauth also served as professor of mental and moral philosophy at theUniversity of Pennsylvania, and from 1873 as vice-provost.
One of Krauth’s most controversial acts was to prepare a series of theses on pulpit and altar fellowship. Called the “Akron-Galesburg Rule,” these may be summarized as saying “Lutheran pulpits are for Lutheran ministers only, and Lutheran altars are for Lutheran communicants only.” Although Krauth’s Rule permitted exceptions, it was nonetheless a strong repudiation of the broad ecumenical relationships pursued by the General Synod.[citation needed]
In 1880 he went to Europe to visit the scenes of the life and labors ofMartin Luther, in order to complete a biography, for which he had made extensive preparations. His death prevented completion of the project.
Krauth also wrote poems, translated hymns from the Latin and German, and was a frequent contributor to religious periodicals.
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